Robin Söder

Robin Söder
Söder with IFK Göteborg in 2009
Personal information
Full name Robin Mikael Söder
Date of birth (1991-04-01) 1 April 1991 (age 33)
Place of birth Magra, Sweden
Height 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s) Forward
Youth career
1995–1998 Magra IS
1998–2002 Sollebrunns AIK
2002–2005 Morlanda GoIF
2008 IFK Göteborg
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2005–2006 Morlanda GoIF
2006–2007 Stenungsunds IF
2008–2014 IFK Göteborg 125 (23)
2014–2017 Esbjerg fB 61 (18)
2017–2018 Lokeren 35 (7)
2018–2021 IFK Göteborg 61 (18)
Total 282 (66)
International career
2006–2008 Sweden U17 19 (9)
2008–2009 Sweden U21 5 (1)
2020 Sweden 1 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Robin Mikael Söder (born 1 April 1991) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a forward. He spent the majority of his professional career at IFK Göteborg, but also represented Esbjerg fB in Denmark and Lokeren in Belgium. He won one cap for the Sweden national team in 2020.

Club career

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Early career

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Söder began his football career 1995 in Magra IS. After a couple of years, he started to play for Sollebrunn AIK. He moved out from Magra at the age of 12 and started to play for Morlanda GoIF in Orust. He changed club to Stenungsunds IF, where he also played senior football.

IFK Göteborg

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Söder was signed for the youth team of the Swedish champions IFK Göteborg in December 2007, but soon began to train and play with the senior squad.

He made his debut in Allsvenskan on 1 July 2008 when he came on as a substitute against Trelleborgs FF. Only eleven days later, he made his first Allsvenskan goal for the club, securing three points against Djurgårdens IF by scoring 2–1 in the 91st minute.

After his debut season he was awarded Newcomer of the Year at the annual Fotbollsgalan, beating Sebastian Rajalakso, Rasmus Jönsson and Joel Ekstrand.[1]

Esbjerg fB

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After six seasons in IFK Göteborg, Söder decided to move to Danish side Esbjerg fB on 22 August 2014. He signed a three-year contract.[2] After scoring 9 goals in 11 matches during the 2016–17 season, he was mentioned as a potential player for the national team by national team manager Janne Andersson.[3]

Lokeren

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On 22 May 2017, Söder joined Belgian First Division A club Lokeren on a free transfer. He signed a three-year contract.[4]

Return to IFK Göteborg and retirement

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On 10 August 2018, Söder returned to his old club IFK Göteborg, signing a three-and-a-half-year contract.[5] On 24 February 2019, he was voted as 2018 Årets ärkeängel (Archangel of the Year), an award given to a player who is considered to have shown great loyalty to the club.[6]

In the 2019 season, Söder became the top scorer of the club with 14 goals in Allsvenskan, one goal less than top scorer Mohamed Buya Turay. For his performances during 2019, he was awarded Kristallkulan (The Crystal Ball), given to the best player in West Sweden.[7] Following the departure of Lasse Vibe, Söder was chosen as club-captain at the start of the 2020 season.[8] When Marcus Berg returned to the club in July 2021, he took over the captaincy from Söder.[9] Söder was instead picked as vice-captain.

On 26 November 2021, it was announced that Söder would leave IFK Göteborg after the season, when his contract expired.[10] He played his last game for the club two days later against Östersunds FK. On 11 January 2022, he officially retired from professional football and began working as a scout for IFK Göteborg.[11]

International career

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Youth

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Söder was a regular in the Swedish national youth teams, and he was the captain of the Swedish U17 team in 2 matches in 2007. He became the youngest person ever to play in the Swedish U21 team, being 17 years and 157 days old when he played against Poland on 5 September 2008. The record was previously held by Leif Eriksson, who was 17 years and 212 days when he made his debut in 1959.[12]

On 23 May 2009, he was selected for the Swedish squad competing in the 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship.[13] Söder played one game in this tournament, coming as a substitute in the semi-final against England. He assisted Marcus Berg to the 3–3 equaliser.[14] In the overtime that followed, he suffered a serious ligament injury.[15]

Senior

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After his successful 2019 season, Söder was called up to the national team by Janne Andersson for the friendly games against Moldova and Kosovo in January 2020.[16] He made his senior debut for Sweden against Kosovo on 12 January 2020, a game in which he was captain.[17]

Career statistics

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Club

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Appearances and goals by club, season and competition[18]
Club Season League Cup[a] International[b] Other[c] Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
IFK Göteborg 2008 Allsvenskan 14 5 5 0 4 2 0 0 23 7
2009 Allsvenskan 12 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 13 2
2010 Allsvenskan 13 3 2 0 2 0 0 0 17 3
2011 Allsvenskan 18 0 3 1 21 1
2012 Allsvenskan 23 2 1 1 24 3
2013 Allsvenskan 26 9 2 0 2 0 1 0 31 9
2014 Allsvenskan 19 2 5 6 5 0 29 8
Total 125 23 18 8 13 2 2 0 158 33
Esbjerg fB 2014–15 Danish Superliga 21 4 4 0 25 4
2015–16 Danish Superliga 12 4 1 2 13 6
2016–17 Danish Superliga 28 10 2 1 4 1 34 12
Total 61 18 7 3 0 0 4 1 72 22
Lokeren 2017–18 Belgian First Division A 35 7 1 1 1 0 37 8
2018–19 Belgian First Division A 0 0 0 0
Total 35 7 1 1 0 0 1 0 37 8
IFK Göteborg 2018 Allsvenskan 9 2 1 0 10 2
2019 Allsvenskan 27 14 1 0 28 14
2020 Allsvenskan 9 0 3 3 0 0 12 3
2021 Allsvenskan 16 2 4 3 20 5
Total 61 18 9 6 0 0 0 0 70 24
Career total 282 66 35 18 13 2 7 1 337 87

International

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Appearances and goals by national team and year[19]
National team Year Apps Goals
Sweden 2020 1 0
Total 1 0

Honours

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Stenungsunds IF

IFK Göteborg

Individual

References

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  1. ^ a b "Robin Söder årets nykomling". Sveriges Radio (in Swedish). 18 November 2008. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
  2. ^ "Officiellt: Robin Söder klar för Esbjerg" (in Swedish). Fotbolltransfers. 22 August 2014. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
  3. ^ "Mardrömsbeskedet: Skadan stoppar Guidetti" (in Swedish). Göteborgs-Posten. 20 March 2017. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  4. ^ "Officiellt: Robin Söder klar för Lokeren" (in Swedish). Fotbolltransfers. 22 May 2017. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
  5. ^ "Söder glöder hos oss igen" (in Swedish). IFK Göteborg. 10 August 2018. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
  6. ^ a b "Robin Söder – ärkeängel 2018" (in Swedish). IFK Göteborg. 24 February 2019. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
  7. ^ a b "Kristallkulan till Robin" (in Swedish). IFK Göteborg. 18 November 2019. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
  8. ^ @IFKGoteborg (12 June 2020). "Robin är vår nya lagkapten!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  9. ^ @IFKGoteborg (18 July 2021). "Marcus Berg tar över bindeln" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  10. ^ "Tack för allt, Robin" (in Swedish). IFK Göteborg. 26 November 2021. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
  11. ^ "Robin ny scout" (in Swedish). IFK Göteborg. 11 January 2022. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
  12. ^ "Robin Söder alla tiders yngste i U21-landslaget" (in Swedish). Swedish Football Association. 10 September 2008. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
  13. ^ "U21 herr: EM-truppen uttagen" (in Swedish). Swedish Football Association. 23 May 2009. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
  14. ^ "EM-sorti på straffar efter mirakelvändning" (in Swedish). Swedish Football Association. 26 June 2009. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
  15. ^ "Söder injury blow hits Sweden". UEFA. 28 June 2009. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
  16. ^ "Truppen till januariturnén" (in Swedish). Swedish Football Association. 9 December 2019. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  17. ^ "Andra 1–0-segern på turnén" (in Swedish). Swedish Football Association. 12 January 2020. Retrieved 2 April 2021.
  18. ^ Robin Söder at Soccerway
  19. ^ "Robin Söder". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmermann. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
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